USA: Amnesty International Says President Obama Just Changed the Zip Code for Guantanamo

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USAPRESS RELEASETuesday, December 15, 2009

Amnesty International Says President Obama Just Changed the Zip Code for Guantanamo

Human rights organization concerned about the fate of detainees who continue to be held with charge

(Washington) – Tom Parker, Amnesty International USA policy director for (counter) terrorism and human rights, issued the following statement in response to the Obama administration’s decision to relocate some of the detainees in the U.S.- controlled detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the Thomsom Correctional Center in Illinois:

"The detainees who are currently scheduled to be relocated to Thomsom have not been charged with any crime. In seven years, the U.S. government including, the CIA and FBI, have not produced any evidence against these individuals that can be taken to a court of law."

"The only thing that President Obama is doing with this announcement is changing the Zip Code of Guantanamo."

"A fundamental principle of the rule of law is that people cannot be held without charge or trial. The founding fathers knew it, the greatest generation fought for it, candidate Obama campaigned for it and the president needs to remember it."

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.